Duterte faces Senate today on rice smuggling

DAVAO CITY , Philippines   â€“ Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is set to appear before a Senate inquiry on rice smuggling today.

Duterte yesterday said he has been invited to attend the hearing of the Senate committee on agriculture to shed light on certain issues affecting the rampant smuggling of rice into the country.

Sparks are expected to fly as Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is also expected to attend today’s Senate inquiry.

Duterte and De Lima have been at loggerheads over how the investigation on an alleged rice smuggling suspect has been handled by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Duterte lamented how the De Lima has been slow in filing a case against one Davidson Bangayan, also known as David Tan, suspected to be the rice smuggling king of the country.

Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares had earlier asked Duterte’s help to curb rice smuggling here as the Davao port has been identified as one of the ports of entry of smuggled rice.

The mayor said he would discuss in the Senate inquiry what he knows about rice smuggling if he would be asked.

Duterte said he also expects some kind of a confrontation between him and Bangayan in today’s Senate hearing.

DOJ criticized

Meanwhile, Sen. Cynthia Villar criticized yesterday the DOJ for dilly-dallying in the filing of charges against businessmen suspected to be behind rampant rice smuggling.

Villar insinuated that the lack of criminal prosecution had emboldened unscrupulous rice traders and their financiers to continue their illegal activities.

“If the DOJ had filed the charges, the (rice smugglers) will be (to continue their illegal activities),” she said.

“But if not, then (the smuggling activities) will remain rampant.” 

Speaking  over radio dzBB, Villar said the DOJ should have filed charges based on evidence and the Senate recommendation made in     hearings during the 13thCongress.

Citing data from abroad, Villar said about 800,000 metric tons of rice are imported annually, and yet the quantity does not match the tax duties paid to the Bureau of Customs (BOC). 

The Attrition Law did not deter illegal practices at the BOC, which officials have admitted to have been “deeply rooted” in the system, she added.

The Senate committee on food and agriculture, which she heads, will ensure that rice smuggling is addressed through implementation of the findings of the committee and enactment of laws to strengthen the rice industry, she said.

Villar said she has long expected charges to have been filed against traders, including financiers and  backers tagged in an earlier probe of the Senate committee on food and agriculture headed by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, whose term expired last June.

“It’s been more than a year since the Senate (committee) made the recommendations on how to plug these loopholes, and yet it seems there are no developments,” she said.

Villar said the Senate is looking into the need to computerize transactions at the BOC to have lesser human intervention in   operations.

However,  the problem arises from the modus operandi of unscrupulous financiers “consolidating” allowable limits to import given to rice cooperatives to go around importation processes, she added.

Rice shipments reached the country’s various ports without import permits, Villar said. – With Christina Mendez, Rainier Allan Ronda